Some integrated circuit (IC) devices include one or more dies manufactured on a substrate. The substrate typically comprises one or more semiconductor materials. In IC devices that comprise multiple transceivers and/or transmitter/receiver pairs, the transceivers must typically be electrically isolated from one another.
In semiconductor production, “doping” refers to the intentional introduction of impurities into a semiconductor material. Such impurities modulate the electrical properties of the semiconductor. In general, an increase in dopant concentration leads to an increase in conductivity.
In practice, an “intrinsic” semiconductor may refer to a rather pure semiconductor material. An “extrinsic” semiconductor may refer to a lightly or moderately doped semiconductor. A “degenerate” semiconductor may refer to a semiconductor so highly doped that it appears to be a conductor rather than a semiconductor. Such degenerate semiconductors may be used in place of metal materials in modern IC devices. As an example, silicon may be considered degenerate at room temperature when doped at concentrations above about 1018 cm−3 and/or a proportion of impurity to silicon on the order of parts per thousand.